Synthetic 2-1 for snowmobiles

I see a reasonable price for a quart of full synthetic 2-1 oil for snow mobiles. It should be good for my “new to me” echo cs-440, right? Can you go lower ratio’s just because it is full synthetic?

 

I've always gone with chainsaw 2 cycle mix oil for chainsaws.
And snowmobile mix for snowmobiles.
Chainsaws make more heat.

 

However, a guy can get by with it once in a while.

Just try not to overheat it.

 

Power saws run at around 10,000 rpm ( it varies) and generate a lot of heat. I think your asking for trouble using oil not designed for chainsaws.

 

I think that snowmobile oil is designed to flow at colder temperatures since most snowmobiles now are oil injected and the oil sits in it's own tank which could obviously get pretty cold at times.
Royal Purple has two different 2 cycle oils that are full synthetic , one listed as a snowmobile oil and a regular two cycle.
I know this because I just bought a quart of the regular two cycle for myself and will be switching over to it very soon , I have been using Mobil 1 Two cycle oil and it was great oil but they have done away with it in the states. The mobil ! does say on the bottle that it is for snowmobiles as well as chainsaws , we used to run it in dirt-bikes and 2 stroke race karts. I am going to miss that stuff.

 

I bought my last 2 stroke sleds back in 1998 and sold them in 2001. When they were gone I had almost a full gallon of 2 stroke injection oil for each left behind. For years and years (until it was gone), I used it exclusively in every piece of 2 stroke OPE I owned. Husky and Stihl saws, RedMax blower and line trimmer, etc. I just used a small empty 2.5 gallon size 2 stroke container to measure and make it 50:1. Zero issues.

 

99% of the 2 stroke mix that I have ever used was Yamalube 2S...which is labeled to be used as injected or premix, and in everything they make (or made) my jug has some age to it too, they might not even make 2S anymore, dunno...
Edit, guess they do
Yamalube 2-S

 

What do you have in mind?

 

Manual says 50:1. I’ve heard some synthetics are good for 100:1. I think my saw has had a few tanks of fuel though it max, since the chain appears to have never been sharpened.
It’s not like the oil is to expensive that I need to skimp on it, but running thinner might burn cleaner? Since I may be in the break in period, dose it make sense to go thicker for a couple tanks, like 40:1 and then move to 75:1 later? I don’t know. Maybe I just stick to 50:1 per the manual across the board. I don’t really know that there would be any benefit either way. But I have heard there are tangible benefits of full-synthetic.

 

They actually makes a couple models now in 2stroke. 10 years ago you'd have said that day would never come again, Yamaha making a 2 stroke sled.

The biggest difference between oil for a sled and saw oil, is that most sleds are water cooled. There's also the temperature that sleds are run, and that's factored in. It will work, probably never have an issue to use snowmobile 2 stroke oil in a saw, but I'd definitely stick to 50:1.

 

I run everything between 32:1 and 40:1...oil is a silly place to skimp in my opinion...even at 32:1 I don't get any smoking...I can't see running leaner than 50:1 on any oil, no matter what they say...and I won't spend the kind of money it takes to get into the oil products that claim 75:1-100:1 anyways so...
Running leaner only to wear your engine out sooner is false economy for sure! I mean heck, this 1 gallon of Yamalube 2S I have has lasted me a looong time, so running it at a leaner ratio would literally be "saving" me pennies over years!

 

I get your logic. But I also stick to what the engineers make the stuff to run at. I think all modern-ish saws, are designed to run 50:1. Back in the day, old saws ran old tech oil. I also don't think that the machining and materials in the saws were anywhere near as good as they can and do make them now. Now, there's bean counting more so than ever now, so you have to watch it for that aspect, but that's a whole different topic.

That amsoil sabre I run, it's like $4 for a bottle that even at 50:1 will make 2.5 gallons. I think my math is correct, but it might not be, but I'll run with it. Anyways, unless I've got a lot of wood to cut, a gallon lasts me a good month. It's tough to estimate how long a gallon lasts for me because I'm not running the saws everyday. When I dropped that last big ash , I made 2.5 gallons up, and had just enough after all the cutting to gas up the weed wacker.

Anyways, at say $2 a gallon for the gas that's 9 bucks or so for 2.5 gallons of premix. Not bad at all. It's even better now that I went to 75:1 on the sabre.
Heck I'd run that sabre just for the smell. It makes the saw smell like a GP racing 2 stroke bike. I'd buy that in a candle and that candle would cost more, and that candle doesn't even do anything except make a little ambiance.

Lol.

I just looked and a 2.6 ounce bottle of sabre is $1.80. the same size lucas oil semi synthetic saw oil is $2.99 at O'Reilly. The cheap brand at o reilly is 2.69 for 2.6 ounces, which will do 1 gallon at 50:1.


So, I'm getting better oil for less, and it smells great.

I just looked it up 6.4 ounce bottle of the sabre were just over $4 when I bought it last. I prefered the 8 ounce bottle when I was kidding 50:1, but I'll need to re evaluate that now that I'm running 75:1. I've got another full 6.4 ounce bottle and a partial left too, so even after I get these last couple of ash trees on my home property all cut up, I'll probably still have a little left over oil.

But you did remind me to get another jug of bar oil

 

No, the engineers recommend "their" oil, and the 50:1 comes from ever tightening EPA regs. If it were up to the manufactures they would spec a "richer" oil mixture...it would make their saws last longer, and they'd sell more oil. Which I'm sure they make more money selling oil than they do the saws.
As far as machining and materials...there haven't been any major changes there (in the chainsaw world) in quite some time really...correct me if I'm wrong about that huskihl

 

To a point yes, they recommend their oil, but the magnusson moss (sp) act gives consumers protection, and ultimately choice in oils for saws, sleds, cars etc among other things.

They didn't use or even have powdered metal, titanium con rods and valves, or all of these awesome coatings in the 70's. Electronics are way better and higher tech now too.

Oil tech has gotten way better since the 60's and 70's, when oil was kind of an afterthought.

 

Yup.

Your saws have titanium con rods and valves?
Cylinder coatings have been used widely since 80's...I did say things haven't changed in "quite some time" and since the 80's, or even the early 90's, is "quite some time" in my book...what vintage saw do you have mrfancyplants ?
Electronics have improved...but unless we are talking about an "injected" saw, or electronic carb, the ignition systems are largely the same for the same time period.

Agreed!! But I don't think anybody on FHC would honestly try to run 50-60 YO oil. (if somebody actually has some, it would probably worth more as a collector item...unopened "vintage oil can"

 

I was trying to figure out when my saw was manufactured, near as I can tell I am thinking the grey body echo cs-440 was manufactured somewhere in the 2006-2010 timeperiod, but I would be interested if someone else knew differently. Once I get it tuned up and broken in I’ll be asking how long a bar I can use with a 45cc saw if I got a full skip chain. I know length isn’t everything, but there may be a beefy locust log that a few more inches over the 18” bar might give me access to.

 

I know the 18" bar that is on my 42cc Poulan Pro is more than enough for it...you could go longer, but it won't pull it well IMO...

 

Engine tech in general I was referring to. . Spark plug tech is light years better now than the old days.

But the coatings and plating have changed a lot since the 80's.

The saws that needed 32:1 was based off of the oil tech they had at the time.

I bet that an old 60-70's saw that the manufacturers days to use 32:1 would be just fine with sabre at 100:1, provided the saw is in mechanically good shape.

I just recall years ago that you'd have to change plugs a lot more on saws and 2 stroke equipment. For reference, my 20+ yr old 029s only ever had had 1 spark plug change. I changed that because it never had the plug replaced, not because it fouled. It's always started in 2-3 pulls.

 

On the handle, there should be a sticker that says manufactured date

 

Closest thing it could be is the manufacturing company with a “J06.” Japan ‘06 maybe?